French Open: Knee injury forces Sindhu to concede tie; Satwik & Chirag bow out

Rennes (France): Indian challenge ended at the French Open badminton tournament with P V Sindhu and Asian Games gold medallist men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty bowing out in the second round here on Thursday.

Taking the court first, double Olympic medallist Sindhu was leading by a game before she conceded her second round women's singles match to Thailand's Supanida Katethong due to a knee injury in the BWF World Tour Super 750 event.

Sindhu pocketed the first game 21-18 and the second game was level 1-1 when the Indian felt discomfort on her left knee at the Glaz Arena. While returning a shot from Katethong, Sindhu stretched herself far too much, resulting in the injury to her knee. Sindhu applied the magic spray and sought the tournament doctor's help.

She consulted her coach Hafiz Hashim twice, and received a yellow card before deciding to concede the match to Katethong, who advanced to the quarterfinals.
Sindhu had defeated seventh seed Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia 12-21, 21-18, 21-15 in the opening round.

Earlier this week, the ace Indian shuttler had returned to the top 10 of BWF world rankings after nearly six months on the back of her four semifinal finishes.

Later in the day, the third-seeded Satwik and Chirag were stunned by Indonesian pair of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan 23-25, 21-19, 19-21 in keenly-contest round of 16 match.